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Theda Cox, 86, of Boulder City, passed away while surrounded by
her family, on August 16th. A committed Christian, she openly shared
her love of Jesus not only in words, but also in her acts of love.
Born in a little house that her dad built on Hopi Street, she
loved to share the story of her father Albert Franklin, a poor farm boy from Georgia, who came to work as a high scaler on the Hoover Dam Project in 1931.
Theda met her future husband George at a church summer camp when they were 16. He couldn't believe his eyes when two years later, as a freshman attending a Christian college in Los Angeles, the campus elevator door opened and there stood Theda. They had a strong friendship that turned romantic their senior year and they married right after graduation.
In 1970, George and Theda moved with their three young girls, back to Boulder City. George was needed to help run the family motel business. Theda quickly became involved in her local church, PEO, Chamber of Commerce and the Nevada Humanities Council.
She was a talented seamstress and made dozens of craft projects that
she would give away, but the one thing she became famous for, was her delicious whole wheat bread. Over the many decades, she gave away thousands of loaves. One year at a charity auction, a generous soul paid $50,000 for a year's supply of her bread!
Theda is survived by her faithful husband of 64 years, George, daughter Lori Merrell (Robert), daughter Susan Petty (Don) and daughter, Carolyn. She will be greatly missed by six grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Her service will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, August 30th, at
Bethany Baptist Church in Boulder City. A reception will follow. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Emergency Aid of Boulder City or Samaritan's Purse.
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Donald Schuyler (1954)
Dear George and Theda's family: Thank you for the nice notice of Theda's passing and part of her life! Theda was such a smart and joyful person to be around in our old Boulder City school days. I had not corresponded with her for many decades after we graduated BCHS in May of 1954. Then we, her former classmates, started to get together in our ten year class reunions in BC. The first one my wife Judy and I attended was our 40th in 1994 and guess what, one of the events was hosted by George and Theda at their beautiful house overlooking Lake Mead, what an awesome view you all had to enjoy. Fred Hill was the organizer of all of our events that year and my wife and I totally enjoyed all of them but the highlight was at the Cox home! It was fun to see all of our class mates and their spouses and a very nervous time for my wife to meet all these strangers. George, I imagine you felt the same way although you and Theda may have been to some of the earlier reunions. Judy and I stayed at the famous "El Rancho Boulder" for several nights enjoying all the activities and staying at our "Local Motel." I had never stayed there before but delivered BC News in the mornings to them once a week back in the day.
I will always remember the record Theda set at typing 105 words per minute which is a whole lot faster than I can think (I finally was able to type 46 and pass the class). I never did get to dance with her at HS events but that was my loss.
Our 50th reunion was another great event with dinner hosted by Theda and George Cox at their gorgeous home. George, that was fantastic chicken you barbequed for all 60 or 70 of us! Fred Jonason was the organizer that year (2004) and published an awesome booklet for all of us to enjoy. Most enjoyable was reading the life sumaries of all our classmates. Judy and I went with Fred and Cynthia Jonason to your house early and tried to help set up stuff, tables and chairs but you both had pretty much everything well underway and done. I remember bringing chairs down from your next door neighbor and that was so good of them to loan them out. I think we hauled some back to them but not sure, blame me for missing items.
Thank you dear Theda for all our growing up years in BC. George, My heart goes out to you as this is a huge loss in a persons life. Think back over all the great times you and Theda enjoyed together and the fine daughters you raised. Don Schuyler